Obviously those of you using steel city planers… but I’m curious to see if anyone has purchased the aftermarket one. It’s a little late to ask since I just got my tracking number for mine but oh well. For $249 it’s hard to beat… I understand it doesn’t have as many cutters as the SHELIX but it’s considerably less expensive and if I get better results than with the regular knives I consider it a success. My poor little Ryobi was struggling on some harder curly maple the other day so I figured I’d give it a shot.

Oh and if no one else has tried them… I’ll post a review once I get it installed.

It’s great… quieter and much smoother cuts than the straight blades. The actual install is not for the faint of heart but if you go slow and grab a diagram online of the planer it’s pretty straight forward. The only issues I ran into were getting the bearing out on the side opposite the belt but with a punch and some judicial hammer use I managed it. It’s an awesome upgrade that I’m happy I purchased.

Incidentally I tested in on some of the softest ambrosia curly maple I had… previously my planer would gouge it to no end and now I’m taking silky shavings off of it with barely if any tear out. Good stuff.